Malaysiakini under Probe on RM850,000 Video Clip Info Leak – Promoting VMY 2007 in Korea Implicating 2 Tourism Ministry Officers for Abuse of Power

UPDATE:January 19, 2008 18:02 PM

Tourism Video Case Under Probe By ACA

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 19 (Bernama) -- The Anti- Corruption Agency (ACA) is investigating alleged irregularity in the RM850,000 production of a video clip promoting Malaysia in South Korea, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said Saturday. He said the ACA was investigating one or two grey areas in the production of the video clip by two Tourism Malaysia officers in Seoul after an internal probe showed the officers had adhered to procedure.

One of the two officers was now in Kuala Lumpur but was not given any duty while the other would return from Seoul, he told reporters after opening a general meeting of the Community Development Department (Kemas) kindergartens in the Putrajaya parliamentary constituency. Tengku Adnan is the MP for Putrajaya. Tengku Adnan said he learned from the report given to him by the internal inquiry board that the officers had adhered to procedure. "Since a report has been made, we have got to investigate. There are one or two grey areas which the ACA is investigating. It is now in the hands of the ACA," he said. The allegation over the video clip was published in a local portal which quoted sources as saying the two officers had abused their powers and misappropriated money through the production of the video clip. Tengku Adnan said he was not aware that such a job had been awarded because he did not interfere in the award of tenders or projects.

= == = == = == = and he wants to continue as the MP for Putra Jaya, his wish would be granted as he can pulled in the Tourist Dollars - RM50.3 billion and a lot of China Dolls through his Open Door VOA (Visa on arrival) policy
ABOVE & BELOW: The 21 PRC arrested (ages 22 - 50) in Jalan Pudu over the weekend raid, More Details & Video Clip coming Next Post
January 19, 2008 20:05 PM

Tengku Adnan Desires To Continue As Putrajaya MP

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 19 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said today he desired to continue serving as the member of parliament for Putrajaya. Nevertheless, he would leave it to the party leadership to decide on the matter, he added. "I will leave the matter to the leadership. The leadership is better able to judge than anybody else," he told reporters after opening a general meeting of Community Development Department kindergartens in the parliamentary constituency of Putrajaya, here. Tengku Adnan, who is a Tourism Minister, said he was confident that he could continue to serve the constituents of Putrajaya and did not have any problem with the community here. "I have helped to fulfil the demands of the constituents. Even a religious school is to be built here soon," he said.

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Another Internal Cover-up with Internal Probe

UPDATE: Saturday January 19, 2008; MYT 5:23:53 PM; By MAZWIN NIK ANIS

No irregularities, says Tourism Minister

ABOVE: This is the Tourism Minister who can "do no wrong" (& even accused Lingam of being drunk in Day 5 of the Royal Com Inq) and who can raked in Billions of tourist Dollars and all the PRC - China Dolls using the effective VOA (Visa on Arrival ) for all & sundry including all the prostitutes. So what is RM850,000 - "sup-sup soi" bread crumbs and who is complaining out of jealousy. Surely they deserve some "rewards".

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PUTRAJAYA: An internal probe carried out by the Tourism Ministry on its two officers who allegedly misused government funds showed no irregularities. Its minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor revealed the probe showed the officers had followed procedures stipulated by the ministry. "They (those conducting the internal investigations) have given the report and it looks like the two officers had adhered to procedure but since a report had already been made, the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) has to investigate. There are two or three issues that are still unclear and this will be investigated by the agency," he told reporters here on Saturday. The ACA has started investigations on the two officers who allegedly misused about RM850,000 to promote Malaysia as a tourism destination. It was reported that a tender for the video production was given to a non-existent company registered to several South Koreans, who are said to be friends of the two officers. The ministry was given RM1.8bil under the 9th Malaysia Plan, RM858mil under Budget 2008 and RM149mil for Visit Malaysia Year 2007. Tengku Adnan said his ministry had decided to conduct an internal investigation before reporting the matter to ACA as it wanted to determine that this was not just mere accusations or rumours. He said he had asked the agency to investigate the matter two days before Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi suggested the matter

Wednesday January 16, 2008

Let ACA probe allegations, urges Shahrir

By ELIZABETH LOOI; eliz28@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: The Tourism Ministry should leave it to the Anti-Corruption Agency to investigate the allegations of misuse of funds by two of its senior officers, the Public Accounts Committee said. Its chairman Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad said this would ensure that the ministry would not be accused of trying to cover up the matter. He was commenting on a statement by minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor that two senior ministry officers were being subjects in an internal probe after being accused of misusing ministry funds. Tengku Adnan said the two would be suspended if they were found guilty.

Shahrir, however, said an internal probe did not necessarily mean that the ministry was closing its doors to the ACA because it could just be gathering evidence. He also said the ACA could now be conducting investigations based on media reports. Transparency International Malaysia president Tan Sri Datuk Dr Ramon Navaratnam said the ministry should have reported the allegations to the ACA. He said all government departments and agencies should leave investigations to the ACA rather than holding internal probes whenever there was a suspicion of corruption. “If all government departments take the line that any suspicion of corruption should be subjected to internal investigations, then there would not be a need for the ACA to be established. “There is a possibility of a cover-up during internal investigations and the whole purpose of investigation can be negated,” he said. He also said the ministry should not go after the whistleblower as this would prevent people from coming forward to reveal the truth. “That (punishing whistleblowers) is a very bad precedent to set. Are we for or against corruption if we are against whistleblowers?” he said

= == = == = == Original Post BELOW

· Tourism Ministry probes scandal in Korea

Syed Jaymal Zahiid | Jan 14, 08 6:06pm

· The ministry is investigating if two of its officers based in South Korea had benefited from a video production scam.MORE

·	Minister 'not involved'
	Check on mole

As usual when some dirty linen is shown to the public, an investigation would be carried out and in this case not only the 2 officers are being investigated for any “wrong doings” the Ministry is also interested to find out who “supplied the incriminating evidence” to Malaysiakini for this embarrassing expose. As the alternate media, Msiakini has always enjoyed the advantage of receiving stacks of photocopies of documents for abuses of powers and after verifying them as truthful would published them.

It seems the Ministry remedy to this so called abuse is to issue a circular that whenever large sums are to be spend, the Minister approval must be obtained first. In this case, the officials can always say the sum was as charged by the advertising/production agency as per invoice (never mind if it is over inflated, if there are no squealers, no one would known) and perhaps their only sin was that no proper tender was sent out for a better offer
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January 14, 2008 16:32 PM
Tourism Malaysia Officers Under Probe

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 (Bernama) -- The Tourism Ministry is investigating two Tourism Malaysia officers in Seoul in connection with an alleged abuse in the production of a video clip to promote Visit Malaysia Year costing RM850,000. Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan (ABOVE) Tengku Mansor said the internal probe began two weeks ago to find out whether the allegation was true. "We will discuss with the Tourism Malaysia director-general (Datuk Mirza Mohammad Taiyab) whether we need to suspend them from regular duties until the investigation has been completed. “If the allegation is found to have basis, perhaps they will face

action," he told reporters at the Kuala Lumpur Tower today. According to a local news portal, the two officers have abused their power and benefited from the production of the video clip which portrays attractive destinations in Malaysia for the purpose of promoting the country in South Korea. Tengku Adnan said the allegation was serious and following this, a directive might have to be issued to require all promotional campaigns by the ministry or Tourism Malaysia involving big allocations to get the minister's approval first. He said he had not met the two officers involved and it was unfair if action was taken on them while the investigation was still pending. He added that the probe being carried out would cover all areas including where the news portal obtained its information with regard to the allegation. Earlier, Tengku Adnan launched a one-stop kiosk called "T-Station" which offers various services including e-banking for tourists. It also supplies information on tourist spots and packages.
The minister hoped more T-Station kiosks would be placed at strategic locations like hotels and tourism service centres as it would help boost the industry. Malaysia aims to draw 22.5 million tourists and generate RM50.3 billion

in revenue from the industry this year.

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Monday January 14, 2008; MYT 1:28:02 PM
Tourism officers under probe

By ELIZABETH LOOI; STAR
KUALA LUMPUR: Two senior officers in the Tourism Ministry are under internal investigation for alleged misappropriation of government funds. Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said the two were being investigated over reports that they were misusing funds earmarked for promoting Malaysia as a tourist destination in South Korea. He said they would be suspended if found guilty. Tengku Adnan however denied reports that he knew about the abuse of power and his family had benefited from the scam